Safety brush-brake for railroad motor-cars



. S. C. TANNER.

SAFETY BRUSH BRAKE FOR RAILROADMOTOR CARS.

, APPLICATION FILED APR. 10, (920.

1,385,729. PatentedJuly26,1921.

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UNITED I STATES A ENT A OFFICE.

SHERIDAN Q. TANNER, OF RELAY, -MARYLAND.

' SAFETY BRUSH-BRAKE RAILROAD MOTOR-CARS.

T all whom it may concern:

I Be it known'that I, SHERIDAN C. TANNEI a citizen of the United States,-and a res1- dent of Relay, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Brush-Brakes for Railroad lvlotor-Cars, of

" which the following is a specification.

' My present invention relates generally to railway cars, and more particularly to railroad mot-or cars utilizedtor various purposes, including the inspection of railway lines, my invention being applicable alike to manually propelled hand cars as well as gasolene cars or" the various types now in use,

which, like the hand propelled cars, are of light weight as compared to other railway rolling stock, and are, easily derailedv by stones, dirt and other small articles or obstacles on the rails, which would not affect the heavier rolling stock.

It is for this reason my invention proposes a device which in the normal operation of a hand car may be utilized to clear the tracks of small obstructions, and which in the interest of ready operation and the elimination of complications, can be utilized as a brake whenistopping the car, and thus at a time when the track clearing brushes are not essential. v

To this end my invention in its more specific aspects proposes an arrangement such as shown in the accompanying drawing, which'forms a part of the specification and in which v I Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating the practical application of my invention, and,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation. I

Referring now to these figures, I have shown portions of a railway hand car including a frame 10 and front wheels 11, the latter being shown upon railway tracks 12 and the former having forward extensions 13 beyond the wheels 11.

At the "front of the frame 10, I journal a transverse shaft 1 1 in tracks 15, the ends of this shaft extending outwardly into line with the wheels 11 and being rigidly connected to the bars 16 at points nearer to one end of each of the bars than the other so that under normal circumstances the longer projecting ends of the bars will swing downwardly to vertical positions by gravity. At the extremities of their longer arms the bars 16 are provided with brush heads 17 engaging the tracks 12 and connected by chains Specification of Letters Patent. t t J 1y 26 2 Application filedApril 10, 1920. Serial No. 372,840. 1

18 to the ends of the frame extensionsli'l so as to prevent the brush heads from swingng rearwardly beyond the vertical.

At their opposite shorterends bars 16 have pivoted brake heads 19 which are shiftable rearwardly and downwardly into engage- ;ment with the wheels 11 when the longer portions 01" the bars 16 are drawn forwardly and upwardly, as indicated'in dotted lines .111 Fig. 1.

Forthe above purpose the shaftlt has an angular arm 20 intermediate its ends, to which one end of a connecting rod 21 'is-pivoted, the opposite end of this rod being pivoted to an operating lever 22intermediate the ends of the latter. The lower end of the lever 22 is pivoted in a bracket 23, and the upper end of the lever forms a handle 24, rearward movement of which causes rotative movement of the shaft L1 to simultaneously swing the bars 16 from the vertical track brushing positions to the horizontal wheel braking positions, as shown by the dotted line, in Fig. 1, it being-understood that when the lever 22 is released the bars 16 drop to the vertical position, where the brush heads 17 are effectively held in engagement with the tracks 12 by the chains 18.

the bars are swung to bring the brake heads into action against the wheels 11, the car will then be in process of stopping, and will not require the clearing of the tracks to the same extent as when in full motion. Thus, each feature acts at a time when action of the other feature is to some extent at least unessential. v

I claim I 1. The combination with the wheels, of vertically swinging bars forwardly thereof, having track clearing means at their lower ends, means for swinging said arms to hori zontal positions, and wheel engaging brake members carried by the opposite ends of the arms, and'movable to engage the wheels in the horizontal positions of the arms.

' 2. The combination with the wheels, of bars fulcrumed adjacent to one end in advance of the wheels and adapted to normally assume vertical positions, track clearing means atthe lower ends of said bars, wheel engaging brakes at the upper ends of the bars, and means for swinging the bars to horizontal positions whereby to shift the brakes into engaged relation with the wheels,

as described.

3. The combination with the wheels, of vertically swinging arms for the rear of the wheels having track engaging brushes at one'end, and wheel engagingbrake members at the opposite end, and means for swinging said arms to bring said brushes and said brakes into active positions.

4. The combination with the frame and wheels, of a transverse shaft journaled on the'frame forwardly of the Wheels, bars secured intermediate their ends to the said shaft, an operating lever operatively connected to the shaft for imparting rotative movement thereto in order to swing said bars and track and Wheel engaging means mounted at relatively opposite ends 'of the bars, as described. I

'5. The combination with a frame and wheels, of a transverse shaft journaled in the frame in advance of the wheels, and

having an angularly projecting armvintermediate its ends, a p1voted operating lever connected to said arm, bars disposed in line.

of the frame and the bars adjacent to the brushes of the latter.

SHERIDAN c. 'TANNER; 

